Thursday, September 11, 2014

Defending Ray Rice

The second biggest news story this week was Pres. Barack Obama getting us into another illegal war caused by his own incompetence. Butthe biggest story was Ray Rice being kicked out of football over an elevator video. And the only difference of opinion is over whether others should be fired for not blackballing him earlier. And whether it is acceptable to blame the victim for apologizing and sticking with her husband.

I may be the only one defending him.

First, I don't see why his private marital relations are anybody's business. They could be sodomizing each other for all I know or care. The elevator incident is no more a concern to others as sodomy.

I can understand disciplining players who take performance-enhancing drugs or bet on their own games, because that undermines the sport. But if charged with a non-sport-related crime, they can just let the criminal justice system handle it.

Third, Rice has not committed any crime. I know the video looks bad, and Rice was indicted. But Janay may have started the fight, for all we know, and the video shows her striking him. No one was seriously hurt, as far as we know. Janay appears unconscious, but it is not clear whether a punch did it, or it was her head hitting the rail. At any rate, she has not made a criminal complaint, and it is not clear that he could be convicted of anything.

Broadcaster Ted Robinson was suspended for saying that Janay was pathetic for sticking with Ray. To keep his job, he was forced to say:

I understand that the cycle of abuse keeps people in unhealthy relationships. No blame or responsibility should ever be placed on a victim.

He also has to attend sensitivity training, aka re-education camp. I guess this is currently the feminist party line, but I consider it more offensive than his original remarks.

He is essentially saying that Janay is too incompetent to be responsible for what she says and does. If that is really true, maybe she should be committed to an insane asylum. But it is not true. She has chosen to stay with the man she loves, and that is not a crazy thing to do.

You are probably going to say that pro football is just entertainment; that public figures should learn to behave themselves in public; and that Ray cannot make a living playing football if no one wants to watch him. Okay I can accept that. Likewise I could accept it if Jennifer Lawrence had to abandon acting because her naked selfies got leaked and the public did not approve.

My quarrel is witht Pres. Obama, VP Biden, and everyone else who are actively trying to destroy Ray and Janay Rice. They are unnecessarily sticking their noses into private affairs. They are peddling dubious psychology. They are saying a woman should not stand by her man, and she should not be criticized for it either. They are saying a footballer should live a nonviolent life. They are full of contradictions.

Call me insensitive, if you wish, but I think that the world has gone made over trivial incidents like this.

As calls for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to resign grow, a bipartisan group of 16 female senators wrote a letter to league urging a zero-tolerance policy on domestic violence. The letter, which brings up the 20th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act, calls on the league to "institute a real zero-tolerance policy for domestic violence that will ensure that this type of violence and abuse has no place in the NFL."

The letter, also sent to the Baltimore Sun, notes that the Rice incident isn't even the first case of domestic violence in the NFL this year and argued that the league's new policy isn't strict enough. "If you violently assault a woman, you shouldn’t get a second chance to play football in the NFL," the senators wrote.

What's next, nonviolent football games? Zero tolerance for off-sides?

If these women get their way, then any football wife will know that she can end the career of her husband by making a 911 call. And end the marriage too, probably. So only the vindictive will call 911, or the ones who do not mind losing the big money lifestyle of an NFL player. These zero tolerance policies are nearly always foolish.